Journalists and academics bear the brunt of the massive crackdown on freedom of expression in Turkey. Scores of them are currently subject to criminal investigations or behind bars. This website is dedicated to tracking the legal process against them.

Information on this website is compiled by Punto24 (Platform for Independent Journalism) from open sources.

Journalists in State of Emergency – 17

On Sept. 6, two distributors of Turkey’s only Kurdish-language daily, Azadiya Welat, whose 24 employees were detained in a raid on Aug. 28, were put under arrest on charges of “membership in a terrorist organization.”

According to a report by Özgürlükçü Demokrasi, the successor to the shuttered Özgür Gündem, Rabia Özkaya – an employee of the Özgür Halk (Free People) magazine — was arrested on Sept. 6, one day after a raid on the publication’s office in İzmir.

DİHA reporter released

On Sept. 1, Dicle News Agency (DİHA) reporter Mehmet Arslan, who had been under arrest since Aug. 2, was released from prison on probation after an objection he had filed with a higher court was accepted. Arslan was initially detained in the Karayazı district of Erzurum province.

Aslı Erdoğan and Evrensel reporters

On Sept. 6, the Istanbul 5th Criminal Judicature of Peace turned down an appeal against the arrest of Aslı Erdoğan, writer and an advisor to the shuttered Özgür Gündem. Erdoğan was arrested on terror related charges on Aug. 20.

Two reporters of the Evrensel daily, Cemil Uğur and Halil İbrahim Polat, have been in jail for 16 days as of Sept. 7 without being referred to a court, creating grave concern as there have been reports of police mistreatment of the two journalists under detention.

Developments in coup probe

Three writers for the Yeni Çağ newspaper – Servet Avcı, Adnan İslamoğulları and Yavuz Selim Demirağ — were detained on Sept. 7 as part of the post-coup operation. News reports have noted that Demirağ has written a book critical of the Fethullah Gülen movement in the past.

117 journalists in prison

The most recent arrests bring the total number of journalists, newspaper owners or owners to various newspapers’ rights who are currently imprisoned to 117. This number does not include any of the 52 employees of the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), who were reported to have been detained without their names being released. Nor does it include those journalists who were detained in Antalya on July 25 without their names being publicly released, or those individuals who are known to have been detained as part of the coup investigation but whose possible arrest has not been reported in the press, or journalists who have been convicted on charges other than those usually leveled against journalists in Turkey.
As of Sept. 7, 86 journalists have been put under arrest since Turkey’s declaration of a State of Emergency on July 20. Sixteen of those under arrest were arrested on charges unrelated to the coup investigation. So far, only one of the journalists arrested during the State of Emergency has been released from prison.

Last known legal status of journalists for whom detention warrants have been issued as part of post-coup probe

Abdullah Abdulkadiroğlu, Samanyolu TV, Left the country according to AA

Detain / Place in custody: To hold in police custody for police interrogation first, and later for testimony to a prosecutor. Might lead to a court appearance depending on the action taken by the prosecutor. Arrest: To put into prison indefinitely – by court order – pending trial. Released on probation: Released with an international flight ban issued. Usually entails checking in regularly with a designated police station.

These lists have been compiled by P24 editors from open news sources and will be updated regularly. Journalists who want to report developments about themselves or their colleagues ca